Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen, which presents a serious threat to patients with impaired immunity, burn victims and in intense care units. The high pathogenic efficiency of P. aeruginosa resides, to large extent, in its ability to survive in hostile environment. Chromatin structure is a major factor that governs bacterial adaptation to environmental changes and thereby increases fitness of bacteria. Its role in mediating infection is still poorly understood. This proposal focuses on the P. aeruginosa condensins, which control the global folding of its chromosome. In contrast to archetypal laboratory strains, P. aeruginosa encodes several specialized condensins which appear to be differentially expressed during cell growth. We plan to investigate the hypothesis that the presence of specialized condensins increases fitness of P. aeruginosa. To this end, we intend to characterize the activity of the P. aeruginosa condensins and delineate their roles in chromosome maintenance under various growth conditions. The underlying idea here is that each condensin is optimized to act under its own set of conditions, and combining their efforts helps P. aeruginosa to survive a broad range of stresses. These data will help us better understand the mechanisms of chromatin maintenance in pathogenic and environmental bacteria and their role in establishing high fitness and persistence of bacterial pathogens. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This proposal explores the role of a novel genetic factor that appears to contribute to high fitness and persistence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Understanding the mechanism of this link might suggest novel ways to control recalcitrant bacterial infections caused by this pathogen.